The creators of «South Park» are renaming their long-running animated series «South America» in a new jab at President Donald Trump, Apple, and Google. Trey Parker and Matt Stone shared the announcement on social media ahead of the show's 29th season premiere, framing the change as a response to the tech giants' decision to update their map applications following Trump's executive orders on geographic names.
«Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of South Park to SOUTH AMERICA,» the statement read. «We especially want to thank our parent company Paramount — a Skydance Capitulation.» The post takes direct aim at Trump's recent orders to rename major geographic bodies, including his declaration that the Gulf of Mexico would now be called the Gulf of America, a change that Google and Apple reflected on their maps apps. Trump has also announced his administration would refer to Lake Ontario as Lake America following a trade dispute with Canada, and shared a video suggesting New Mexico could soon become New America.
The announcement comes just days after Parker and Stone won the Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program. Following that win, the duo posted a graphic depicting Trump clutching an Emmy trophy with his pants around his ankles, accompanied by the message: «You finally got your Emmy.» The image appeared to reference Trump's own Emmy history — he was nominated for the US version of «The Apprentice» in 2004 and 2005 for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program but never won.
The creators have said they initially planned to stop mocking Trump after a single episode but changed course after receiving pushback. In July, the White House responded to the series with a statement saying, «This show hasn't been relevant for over 20 years.» According to Parker and Stone, that reaction inspired them to keep going.
«We were just going to do that first show with the Trump stuff,» Parker said via The Hollywood Reporter. «We laid into him so hard, and the thing became: 'Well, who's the bully now?' It became this just totally juvenile joke of like, 'We're not gonna stop. We're going to do it every single week.'» He added: «Even when everyone's like, 'OK, guys, move on,' [we're] like, 'Nope, we're not moving on. We're going to keep going, going, going.' That became the joke.»
Recent seasons of the show have featured storylines depicting Trump in a relationship with Satan, having a micro penis, and having sex with Vice President J.D. Vance. The series has increasingly aimed its humor at the president, making him a recurring target of the show's satire.
The 29th season of «South Park» is set to premiere September 16 on Comedy Central in the US and Paramount+ in the UK. The name change applies to the show's branding ahead of the new season, though it remains unclear whether the title change will be permanent or limited to the upcoming run of episodes.